
12. The Activation Function
I would like to suggest that the prebiotic chemistry might have been passed through an
activation function that disappeared after life was on its way to evolving.
The problem, then, of answering the question of how life began is one of finding the
activation function and its mechanism by which it takes prebiotic chemistry and activates it
(makes it alive) so it can now self-replicate, and evolve. We assume that as this mechanism
activates the molecules, its mechanism depletes as it activates from what is available. In this
sense the mechanism is a limiting reactant, so it determines how much material is activated
before it depletes completely.
Logically, the way to determine what this mechanism is, and how it serves as an activation
function is to look for the by-products of the reaction that are left over, and from that, deduce
its nature.
To do this, we have to look for that thing in our knowledge of the Earth’s history that
does not make sense. This would be in the faint young star paradox. We know that five
billion years ago, when the Earth and Sun first formed, that the sun was 0.7 times its
present output and so, the Earth should have been frozen over, yet, we know it was not.
That it had water in its liquid phase. Thus something was there that is not present today.
That something must have been the mechanism for the activation function that “turned on”
prebiotic chemistry.
If sigma(x) is the activation function, where x is the prebiotic material, and we say r is
residue of the reaction, and l is the activated substance (life) then,
l + r = σ(x)
We know l If we can find r in nature, we can deduce sigma(x).
13. Discussion
It would seem silicon is at the center of creation and we have to wonder why, The first
primitive computers used silicon in silicon dioxide encasing for vacuum tube switches (glass)
with tungsten filaments. The first generation semiconductors were germanium but then
we switched to silicon which became the second generation semiconductor material because
it is abundant and cheap and has the right properties as well. Sand is basically silicon.
Germanium is very rare. Early on in humanities’ prehistoric origins, obsidian, or glass was
there to be discovered as something that flaked into sharp edges so we could craft spearpoints
for hunting. We might say that it is a purpose of biological life (H, N, C, O) to discover the
properties of (P, B, Si) so it can make computing machines which are ultimately necessary
to its survival.
~
A = (Al, Si, P )
~
B = (Ga, Ge, As)
~
A ×
~
B = −145
ˆ
B + 138
ˆ
C + 1.3924
ˆ
N
22 September 8, 2021